Contractions at 20 weeks or hardening abdominal muscles??

I'm a first time mom so I'm hoping maybe some of you experienced moms can let me know if this is normal...

Everyday for the past 4 days or so I've noticed when I get up and start moving around or walking that my muscles in my lower abdomen get so hard! It usually lasts the whole time I'm standing until I sit down and rest for a minute. Then, if I get back up they get hard again. I've tried to get ahold of my doctor's office about it, but they still haven't gotten back to me (I was only able to leave a message with the nurse). I guess the closest thing that I can relate it to is the hardness that you feel after you have an orgasm.

Can anyone tell me if they have experienced this if it is normal or braxton-hicks or something? I can't seem to find any information about it online either.

Comments (11)

This is my 5th pregnancy and I am just now realizing that what I felt in the previous pregnancies and could only describe as a "hardening" or the baby "wadding up" was in fact Braxton Hicks. I feel sorta dumb for it taking so long to get it, but at least I finally did! LOL

sounds like Braxton Hicks to me, harmless to the baby. They start (but are unnoticeable) around 6 weeks and continue through to the end. Just a natural way to get your body ready for L&D. If you notice a real pattern to them, give your OB a call for sure.

I've been getting 1-2 in the mornings when I first wake up...take a drink of water to rehydrate and they go away.

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Happily married since 10/8/05,Mommy to Billy born 9/29/09 &Kelly born 4/4/13. Our little family is complete!

I just got back from the Dr. about this. Mine felt like when you hit the hill of a rollercoaster...my stomach got tight in the pit and my heart would race. BH is the dx. She said they can come on from stressful sitations and being dehydrated. I drank a ton of water Monday and have had no problems since.

I had those all of the time w my daughter. My doctor did inform me that I needed to contact him if I had more than a certain number in an hour though and I can't remember what that number is. I know I get them with this pregnancy too (because they saw them during my TWO freaking out u/s lol) but this time I don't notice them as much

I saw somewhere if you have more than 4 per hour you should call your ob. But if I'm up walking around or something, it just feels like i'm continually contracted. I'm having trouble distinguishing when it starts and stops other than when I get up and sit down. That's why I didn't know if it was actually a contraction.